Sports Briefs

The Peninsula Puffins women's hockey club is hosting the fourth annual Alaska State Women's Hockey Classic this weekend at the Soldotna Sports Center.

The Puffins will be represented by two teams in the six-team tournament, competing against teams from Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Valleys.

The Puffins will kick off the tournament tonight with both Peninsula teams playing. The first game is slated for 9:30 p.m., followed by a 10:45 p.m. game.

Round-robing play continues through Saturday, with at least one of the two Puffins squads playing at 7 a.m., 8:15 a.m., 3:15 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:45 p.m. and 7 p.m.

An all-tournament game, featuring the five top players from each team, will be played at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

Tournament semifinals are scheduled for 8:15 a.m. Sunday, followed by the championship game at 10:45 a.m.

Admission is free for all games.

NBA wants to add andro to banned list

NEW YORK -- The NBA is attempting to ban androstenedione, the testosterone-boosting supplement made famous by Mark McGwire, but the players' association has filed a grievance to block the move.

The NBA issued a statement Thursday saying the joint drug committee of the league and the players' association had added nine substances to its banned list, including andro.

But Dan Wasserman, spokesman for the National Basketball Players Association, then said the union had filed a grievance, putting the matter before arbitrator Roger Kaplan.

Andro is banned in many sports and the Olympics, but not by baseball. McGwire used andro when he hit a record 70 home runs in 1998 but said last year he stopped taking it before the 1999 season because he was concerned others interpreted his use as an endorsement of the supplement.